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Living
Waters Newsletter
August 2006
Lake Victoria’s Lighthouse
of H2OPE
Kaswanga/Wanyama
Rusinga, Mbita, Kenya
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It
is a privilege to report the events of the
past two months to so many of you who have
faithfully supported Living Waters by many
different means. It has been but a short time
since a group of six returned from south of
the equator in Kenya. Our experience is one
of extremes; from high to low and back to high.
I would like to share our story and I hope
that you will not only enjoy it but that you
will be inspired to yield your life and resources
to a happiness that cannot be written on mere
sheets of paper. There is a heart inspired
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that takes place when you are part of helping
others that are helpless to help themselves.
This was experienced greatest by the opportunity
we had to do the simplest of sharing. Assisting
with feeding hundreds of little children, with
the rain pouring down on us and sharing a kind
word that Jesus loves them is one experience
that none in our group will ever forget. |
Organizational
Status
But
let’s retrace events since our last
newsletter. In July Living Waters International
was officially formed and recognized by the
Arizona Corporation Commission as a non-profit
corporation. We are governed by a Board of
Directors, of which I am grateful for the
experience and expertise that they bring
to Living Waters.
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Acknowledgments
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If you are
receiving this newsletter, you most
likely have a vested interest in the
project at Kaswanga. The Living Waters “Lake
Victoria’s Lighthouse of H2OPE” would
not be possible without the dedicated
support of each of you. On behalf of
every person in Kaswanga, Wanyama and
elsewhere in Kenya who received a benefit
from the Living Waters project and
from our Board I want to say a big “thank
you”.
Thank you
to Ace Hardware, Buds Plumbing, Payson
Paint and Wal-Mart for the help with
supplies. Thank you ADRA for the help
in transportation coordination and
supply delivery.
Thank you
to The Quiet Hour, Arizona Conference
of Seventh-day Adventists and the women
of the Payson SDA church for the beautiful
Bible story felt sets that provided
3 churches and thousands of people
with the first visual aids for teaching
Bible stories. Thank you KARA, Globe
and Copper Cities Rotary clubs for
funding the shipping of the 12 tubs
of medical supplies, drip irrigation
systems, tools and the water filtration
and purification system.
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Your
Contributions at Work
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The
July trip to Kaswanga was a success.
The scope of the trip covered 26 days,
with 6 mission minded staff volunteering
their personal time, energy and resources.
No less than 4 staff was ill from amoeba
related disease. There were no significant
injuries reported from this extremely
strenuous work however, one of our local
Kaswangan’s team member died 4
days into the project.
The
Impact of your Contributions has
directly reduce the incidence of
waterborne diseases by providing
fresh water; provided medical supplies
for the local clinic, food for the
hungry, educational programs for
school children and support to the
orphans.
Your contributions
are for to the Board of Directors.
We continue
to work on Phase 2 as it has yet to
be completed. We
are working on efficient means to have
ongoing work accomplished by hiring
a local engineer who has accepted the
position of Living Waters onsite project
coordinator. |
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A
special thank you to each of you who
sacrificed your financial resources
to assist people whom you have never
met, to provide them with opportunities
of fresh water, thereby reducing the
waterborne diseases that are a contributing
factor for 75 percent of the deaths
in this area. Your sacrifice is allowing
families to successfully grow gardens
to feed not only their starving children,
but they in turn are assisting with
feeding the orphan children who have
no adult to help them meet their hunger
needs.
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| All
of you are truly awesome. Your contributions
were an affirmation to us that we were indeed
following Gods will in spreading the Good News. |
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Our
Story
My
son Joby, and I left one week before the
rest of the group so we could have a head
start with the project. We anticipated
potential problems with supply delivery
and labor availability and felt impressed
to get an early start.
July
12th arrived and at 2 am. Joby and I were
completing the final checklist of all the
preparations that had to be completed before
we left. We still needed to pack our carry
on luggage (which held all of our personal
belongings) and planned to leave at 2:30
am. We started our long 40 hour journey
after 2 nights without sleeping more than
2 hours.
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Food
for the Children:
The
first full day in Nairobi provided
both of us with a most shocking experience.
We met with a retired physician, Dr.
Hal Burchel who was working in the
Kibera slums. This is the world’s
second largest slum and has over one-million
people living in situations that can
not be described. This was our first
opportunity to visit the feeding program
funded and directed by JL Williams’s
founder of New Directions. (www.NewDirections.org).
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Seven
hundred children are fed three meals
a day by dedicated staff who cook massive
amounts of food in huge pots. The children
bring whatever small bowl-like container
they have and get one scoop of beans
and potatoes or cabbage and ugali. They
most likely will only eat a small portion
of the bowl’s contents as they
have siblings at home who have nothing.
Soon you see the children disappear in
a maze of humanity as the kids take their
brother or sister a few bites.
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In
my humble opinion this is one of the
ministries that comes closest to what
I imagine Christ’s compassion for
man to be. There are 3 other feeding
programs in the slum, one of which is
near extinction due to a lack of funding.
Twenty cents, just twenty pennies feeds
a child, 3 meals a day, yet 400 children
are about to loose this simplest of basic
needs because of a lack of money. Our
hearts were seared with coals of compassion
that words will never describe.
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| When
the rest of the crew arrived the following
week, they each had the incredible experience
of handing children bowls of food, rain
pouring down their backs and bright smiles
of appreciation for a meager bite of food. |
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Across
Kenya, camera in hand:
Joby
and I continued our journey across Kenya
with the constant clicking of Joby’s
camera. His initial purpose was to document
the Living Waters project for his senior
internship as a communication major. His
role became invaluable and the lives he touched
included many. In return God touched his.
In the villages of Mbita and Kaswanga young
and old who I never had met would ask, “Where
is Joby”?
Our
first day was filled with meetings and introductions
which are very formal and necessary. Our
second and third day included a general assessment
of all of the project areas and formalizing
the action plan to complete the projects
that I naively thought I could accomplish.
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Our
Challenges began..
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Our
supplies had not arrived nor
had the project coordinator from
ADRA. |
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The
need to dig a
10’ deep trench 300 feet
long to the lake: |
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is where the 4 inch pipe will provide
an unlimited supply of water to the
windmill cistern. The water is to
flow by gravity and fill a 20 foot
deep well. This provided a challenge
because the well needed to be dug
10 feet deeper so the pipe would
drain well below the lake level. |
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Well
drilling consisted of 2 men in a three
foot diameter hole scooping mud and water
into buckets to be raised by ropes. As
fast as they worked the water continued
to fill the hole. This required the use
of a broken water pump and petro to fuel
the broken pump. This meant new parts
before the work could continue. Parts
were only 1 hour away which is a 2 hour
round trip.
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The
local transportation that had
been arranged for us consisted of a “very
much in need of burying” pick-up
truck. Every day we had to get something
on the truck repaired just to get us
and whatever supplies we could buy to
the work site. |
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And
then there's the pump: In the
process of removing the existing water
pump from the windmill it was discovered
that the pump was in need of significant
repair. After contacting the only windmill
pump manufacturer in Kenya we found out
that the parts had been on backorder
for that particular size pump but that
we could purchase a new pump with a greater
capacity. This all sounded great until
we got the final price for the new pump,
which included a four day visit by a
pump technician to install it, his travel,
meals and lodging expenses. |
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God's
Wonderful Provision:
Joby
and I were to go to Nairobi to work on the
pump purchase and to meet the rest of the
group. At the last minute we were informed
that the vehicle that was to take us would
not be allowed to leave Mbita. We were dropped
off at the local ferry that would take us
across a section of a large bay and deposit
us in unknown territory. We then could catch
a matatu (something that resembles a dead
mini van with about 30-40 nationals in it)
for a 22 hour ride to Nairobi. Instead, God
opened the way for us to catch a ride in
an occupied taxi to the city of Kisumu where
we caught a quick flight to Nairobi. This
may all seem pretty easy, but it wasn’t.
The last flight for the day on which we had
been booked was cancelled and it took a token
(politically correct word for bribe) to get
us on the only other flight that was leaving.
We
were delighted to successfully connect with
the rest of our group: my wife Mary Jo, my
oldest son Justin and Charles and Anthony,
staff from White Horse Media. A very special
thanks to White Horse Media and its Board
of Directors who authorized Charles and Anthony
to travel to Kenya and do a professional
film documentary on the Living Waters project.
This will provide a broad base of exposure
and attention for additional funding sources
to this project.
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Out
of Africa-
God's
Magnificent Creation:
We
had a very short but most interesting
opportunity to take a side trip to
the largest wild game park in Kenya,
the Maasai Mara Game preserve. Here
we would sleep in a basic camp near
the Maasai village and take morning
and evening game drives into the heart
of the wild kingdom.
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While
some people find great pleasure in
the sport of killing these magnificent
animals, we were content to shoot
them with a camera.Kenya has seen
the wisdom in prohibiting wild game
hunts as the financial impact from
tourists experiencing these creatures
living it their natural surroundings
far outweighs big game hunting dollars. |
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We
experienced the migration season of the
zebras and wildebeest. For miles and
miles as far as the eye could see or
imagine, there were animals migrating
to the tall savannah like grasses that
covered the rolling plains of the northern
end of the Serengeti.
Up
close and personal, we experienced
huge herds of elephants, at one location
numbering close to 100. We watched
lion cubs play as their mothers kept
a watchful eye and we were within
feet of magnificent males basking
in the sun on the large lava rocks.
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Patience
Has Her Perfect Work:
After
leaving the Maasai Mara we traveled for 10
hours over very rough terrain to Mbita. The
roads prohibited traveling any faster that
an average of 15 mph. By the time we reached
our destination that evening we were sore
and bruised from the jostling.
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Early
the next morning we left the village
of Mbita where we would be staying for
the next week to travel daily to the
village of Wanyama. This is where Mary
Jo would present her first of 5 health
talks to about 450 children. From the
beginning this day proved to be a disaster.
The generator that was supplied lacked
fuel so it was a quick trip back to Mbita
for fuel. When the fuel arrived, the
carburetor needed repaired so that took
extra time. All this time the students
were noisily anxious for the program
to begin. Finally, the generator started
and “on with the show”.
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I
moved to the next project 3 miles away to where
the well diggers were to be working at the
windmill. To my dismay, nobody was working.
I found out that several things had happened.
The money we had provided to pay for the wages
arrived 4 days late. Therefore nobody was going
to work until I showed up with money to meet
payroll, which is to be paid daily. Secondly,
the local person who had committed to organizing
the local labors had died while I was gone
to Nairobi. And lastly, those who were there
to work, were just not working. This last incident
was one of the invaluable lessons that I was
about to learn, but would not understand until
I left Kaswanga and returned to the States.
You see, life is lived much differently there.
There is no sense of time being an important
factor. Efficiency is not understood and my
type A personality made a difficult situation
even more difficult, for the local villagers
and myself alike. Having a goal is a must,
but expecting that my agenda and hard work
would accomplish that goal in an effective
and efficient manner was not the priority of
the local people. About
this time I received word from Mary Jo that
the generator had surged and that the power
supply to her computer which she was using
for her health talks had burnt up. From then
on she had to rely on the only other availability
for the talks. Her notes.
The
local villagers would laugh at my desperate
attempts to get the project on track for
my attempts would interfere with the “greetings
of the day”. I would laugh and tell
them that I had much to learn of their culture
and then try to slow my anxiety down to a
snail’s pace to accommodate their expectations.
My attempts usually lasted a couple of hours
before additional frustrations brought out
my expressions of needing to keep the project
progressing. This is all I will say regarding
my frustration at the lack efficiency.
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Fresh
Food for the Hungry!
The
gardens that were planted in April with
the drip irrigation systems we installed
were flourishing. The irrigation committee
chairman Narkihso had tripled his yield
by cultivating 3 plots next to each other
and moving the irrigation system each
day to another plot. All of the gardens
were on their third crop of vegetables
since April. This was evidence of the
value of these simple inexpensive systems.
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Joby took
responsibility for the drip irrigation
systems. He developed a mechanism that
would ensure individual success to those
who were to receive the additional systems.
Instead of giving the systems to individuals
where there was no real accountability,
he decided they should be turned over
to the irrigation committee. It than
became the responsibility of the irrigation
committee to designate who should get
the systems and to follow-up to determine
that the systems were indeed being utilized
as planned. Joby developed a simple contract
for each person who would receive a system.
The contract had conditions for the receiver
to follow in order to keep the system.
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included things like: |
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Fencing
the garden to keep the goats out |
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Growing vegetables
as planned |
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Maintenance
of the system |
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Notification
to the committee if there were problems |
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Committee would also do random inspections to
make sure the system is being utilized. |
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Another
plan for the irrigation systems is for
graduates of the Nybola Secondary Girls
School. A system was given to the school
and they will provide a course curriculum
in Gardening. Each student will have the
opportunity to grow their own garden plot.
Students, who have been in this program
for 2 years before graduation, will be
presented with a system to take with them
to their new homes. This provides an ongoing
opportunity for the girls to use what they
have learned and provide for their families. |
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Joby
is currently planning on recruiting 6 students
from Pacific Union College, do fundraising
and travel to Kaswanga over their Christmas
break to install 100 additional garden systems.
This could directly benefit up to 1000 people,
mostly orphans. This will be a tremendous amount
of hard work for these young men and women,
so please keep them in your prayers.
The
drip irrigation systems will become one of
Living Waters major objectives. The systems
that Joby will be installing will primarily
be for grandparent and foster parent headed
homes for orphans. This will provide opportunity
for more orphans to be cared for by grandparents,
relatives and foster parents. By increasing
the availability of food, more orphans will
find homes available for their care. Justin
reported that at one child-headed home he
visited, the children reported receiving
a meal every 3 days. With your help and commitment
Living Waters intends to change this.
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Time
Winding Down:
The
well digging had to be stopped 2 days
before we were to leave because the
slow progress was interfering with
the need to get water flowing from
the windmill again. While the windmill
was taken out of commission there was
no water supplied to the school which
is dependent on it.
The
trenching was progressing and by Thursday
(2 days before we were to leave) the
plumbers were starting to lay the ½ mile
of 2 inch galvanized pipe that would
carry water Kaswanga village.
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This was
the day that we met the enormous challenge
of getting a mammoth size plastic water
tank 30 feet into the air and inside
of the existing elevated steel tank,
which we had found too costly to repair.
We removed
the lid off of the old tank and attempted
to hoist a mammoth 2000 gallon water
tank up into it. I can not describe
the difficulty in accomplishing this
endeavour, but let it suffice to say
that 10 men in the elevated tank and
3 men
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working
from the bottom could not seem to get
the tank to roll over the last 6 inches
of the side wall. We were literally “at
the end of our rope” with no more
strength to muster in the 110 degree
heat and after 2 hours of intense pulling
we thought we would fail. At that moment
it was as if an angel just gave the last
little push and the tank rolled up and
over the wall. I knew at that very moment
a miracle had happened. There was no
doubt in my mind that angels assisted
at the point when I realized that “we
in ourselves could not physically do
this on our own”.
This
was also the day that we completed
the construction of a security platform
surrounded by metal mesh to secure
the purification system. We had designed
this platform half way up the elevated
tank.
Using
timbers, wire mesh and some steel plate
we built a secure steel box with a
locking latch which was enclosed inside
a wire mesh area that also had a gate
and a lock. The challenges of getting
this built were many and yes, miracles
again happened.
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simplest of things we take for granted are unconceivable
in the bush of Africa. God had many lessons for
me to learn while on this trip and I am sure
I am still learning them. For most local villagers
it would be very difficult to plan what we would
consider a simple action plan for a particular
project. This is not because these people are
ignorant. It is because they have seldom had
much of anything to work with and the abstract
idea of projecting what your supply needs are
in advance has never been developed. It is a
lesson that I would learn that had less to do
with the lack of what they had, but more on how
incredibly blessed we have been as a nation,
society and culture to have had the opportunity
to have these concepts instilled into our every
day way of thinking. |
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The
Final Day:
Our
last workday on the project dawned
with full expectation that by the end
of the day the project would be complete
and our mission would be accomplished.
After all, I believed that by doing
what we had been called to do would
assure us of success. Again, my optimism
and enthusiasm were both to be put
to the test. For months I had meticulously
prepared every
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detail,
brought supplies for the unexpected,
and anticipated every scenario so that
this project would be completed, but
as the day progressed I found out that
the project was stalling and the hands
of the clock were ticking away fast.
By 2 pm I was starting to doubt that
we would indeed complete what we had
set out to do. After all, that was my
measurement of success. It was absolutely
imperative that the windmill pump start
pumping water by now, so I could start
the purification system up, test it and
start filling the 3 tanks that sat waiting
to hold purified water for the villagers.
What, another delay? Another trip to
Mbita for another cutting and welding
of pipe to make the windmill functional!
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If
you can picture this:
In
shear desperation I am hurrying from one project
location to the next. The sun is hot, I am
out of water, and I have lost 15 pounds in
10 days. I am walking 15 miles per day trying
to coordinate all aspects of this project.
I am down to the few remaining hours; the water
filtration and purification system are installed.
All I need is for the water to flow.
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At 5 pm,
when I reach the windmill site, just
30 minutes before our Sabbath begins,
we are blessed with an unexpected miracle.
The repairs to the windmill have been
completed and the water is beginning
to be pumped. It must reach the elevated
tank almost a mile away and then we
can have pure water flowing. The plumbers
have completed the last connection
of pipe in the village and the water
kiosk and valves are in place.
They
must connect one last pipe that will
tie the entire system together. This
will connect the tank that supplies
the village thus connecting everything
we had been working towards.
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| We
are desperately trying to beat the clock and
finish this job before Sabbath and just then
the devil gives a final attempt to create failure.
As the last piece of pipe is connected at the
concrete tank, the water outlet on the tank blows
out, leaving a gaping 12 inch diameter hole in
the side of the tank near the bottom. This requires
a mason (who completes the repair in 1 hour)
and 2 days for the concrete to cure. It is finished.
There is nothing for me to do but admit defeat.
It is absolutely certain that water will not
be flowing into Kaswanga before we must depart.
I feel a sense of both failure and relief. I
feel as if I had failed to complete what I came
for, yet I feel relieved that nothing else could
go wrong. I was done. I could not accomplish
anything else. We could not stay even an extra
day because we had spent every bit of our funds.
We did not have enough left for another night
of lodging or extra meals. We were totally empty
of energy, time, enthusiasm, ideas and money.
We had enough to return to Nairobi, barring anything
more than fuel and food. |
Disappointment?
You
see, tomorrow, Sabbath was to be a spectacular
celebration. Plans had been put into place
to have a community celebration with thousands
of villagers present to turn on the water.
This was to be the culminating event. This
was to be the end of the story for the film
crew. This was our mission accomplished celebration.
This was to be the goal of months of planning,
fund raising, finagling and anxiety. This
was to be our high day.
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No
Regrets! |
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| That
night as I lay exhausted, I asked God to reveal
to me why. I was sure I was sent to accomplish
this task and yet, I was to leave without it
being completed. Here I list some of the reasons
that I feel God gave me these types of challenges. |
1.
We know that we are doing something
right for God when so many curves get
thrown our way. The more successful
this project, the more of Gods love
shines through and that is something
that the devil will do his best to
prevent.
2· There
were enormous lessons to be gained
regarding our total dependence of God.
Each day and each trial were overcome
by submitting “that only by His
power would we accomplish our task”.
If self got in the way, we had the
opportunity to be brought back to reality.
3· There
is something positive to be said regarding
our leaving without completion of the
project. It leaves a responsibility
for the local villagers to complete
it (of which I have no doubt they will)
but more importantly, it strengthens
our faith that God is ultimately in
control. It is His project with which
we have been entrusted to do the very
best we could, and we did. Yet, there
is always room to learn to trust and
that is where we left this project.
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God
is So Good!
When
we pause to consider the accomplishments and
we can but awe at all that was done. After
all together in seven days together we had;
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Provided
health talks to over 1000 children, giving
them basic information that provides
them the opportunity to take some control
with the health of their life
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Almost
completed a trench, 10 feet deep and
300 feet long
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Started
the process of deepening the well
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Trench
and laid ½ mile of water pipe
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A
new 5 inch water pump was purchased and
installed
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Refitted
the unusable elevated water tank with a
2000 gallon new tank |
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Created
a system of 6 water tanks for holding
purified water
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Built
an elevated security zone to house the
purifier with space to accommodate 2
workers and a movable solar panel system
to capture the sun as it moves east to
west
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The
supplies for this project were purchased
by donations
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Joby
coordinated the installation of 20 drip
irrigation systems for garden plots that
will supply approximately 200 people
with fresh vegetables. My eldest son
Justin also worked diligently with this
project.
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1000
orphan children were provided bars of
soap for body washing
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6
large plastic rubbermaid tubs of medical
supplies were delivered to the medical
clinic
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Three,
large Bible story felts sets were provided
to local churches. These were primarily
given to assist in teaching young children
about Jesus and His love, yet the adults
alike found them to be fascinating
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The
film crew did a fabulous job of capturing
the scope and reality of the project
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An
incredible opportunity for a father and
2 sons to bond as only this type of experience
will afford
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And
last but not least. Between 8000
and 9000 people saw the powerful
and gripping "Jesus" video.
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Understand
this is no small feat! With a generator,
projector, DVD player and large piece of
white material we showed this incredible
movie in their language on a 20 x 20 foot
screen. For those who have never seen this
movie, you have really missed something.
It was incredible to watch it in Luo and
yet feel the indescribable power it contained.
It brings to life how wonderful and sacrificing
Jesus was. Every part of His life was to
help others, even with His dying breath.
On the last night I was running the equipment
which was located in a “sea of little
children”. There were about 1800 young
children crammed so tightly together that
I could not move from my position. The people
could really identify with the story as it
was filmed showing conditions that were very
much like the living conditions of these
local people. It showed the daily hardships
and struggles that were basically mirror
images of how these villagers live. The hunger,
illness and death were so much a part of
life then and now. I can not tell you how
great and powerful that was.
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| Out
trip was coming to an end and we were all relieved
to be returning to a life where everything isn’t
difficult. Even though some of our team suffered
amoeba related illnesses, and we were constantly
challenged with new issues, I am sure we all
felt that our experience was truly “one
of a lifetime” and that we all gained incredible
insight to “our life of plenty”. |
Where
do we go from here?
There
is much to be done and this project continues.
We have evaluated ways to effectively continue
with meeting the needs of this area. The
water project is not complete. We continue
with this phase by adding another water kiosk
which will require another ½ mile
of pipe. The original system has been upgraded
with additional sediment filters but needs
to be tied into the main water supply for
the school. We were delighted to hear that
all cases of typhoid were eliminated and
most of the dysentery has been eradicated.
The government was about to close the school
because of the poor water quality and now
they have been allowed to continue. The original
system can provide 1000 gallons of pure water
daily to the school. The drip irrigation
systems are providing the 3rd crop of vegetables
since their installation in April.
People’s
lives are being significantly impacted by
the project of Living Waters. Lifestyle behavior
changes are reported by many authorities
and life expectancy will be impacted. Seventy
five percent of the diseases are related
to the impure water and that is being improved.
You
have all had a part in making this happen.
You can feel grateful that your contributions
are making a difference. Without each of
you as donors, this would not be happening.
Yet, there is much to do. We have exhausted
our funds for this project and so the cycle
continues. Living Waters is in need of your
support again. We have come a long way, yet
the job is not finished. We desire to continue
on and to provide the following:
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 Completion
of the digging of the well
Complete
the gravity feed water system bringing
lake water to the well, thus eliminating
the need to use a gasoline powered pump
since they have no money for the fuel
Refitting
the windmill for the deeper well
Repair
the windmill transmission system
Installing
another ½ mile of water
pipe for another kiosk
Installing
the Tom Mboya Secondary School
purification system inline, thus
providing fresh water to all who
use this resource on campus, including;
staff housing, the dorms, water
kiosk and kitchen.
Install
100 additional drip irrigation
systems to grandparent and foster
parent headed homes for the orphans
Provide
3 more churches with Bible felt
sets
Encourage
sponsors for orphans to be fed
and attend school. A child could
be sponsored for $30/month. |
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need is great but your individual resources combined
will provide Living Waters the ability to continue
this valuable work on the island of Rusinga.
Time is of an essence. Lives are being lost and
lives are being saved. Please help us in saving
these people’s lives. Thank you for your
continuing support. |
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